Over the last 20 years, approximately three million students nationwide have been reached through the Teach for America program.

Starting next year, Rhode Island will join those ranks.

“We can do it in Rhode Island, and we will do it in Rhode Island,” said Chris Kaleel, vice president of new site development at Teach for America. “Teach for America selected Rhode Island for this state’s strong commitment to education reform. Your commitment to teacher quality is one that we share whole-heartedly.”

Teach for America aims to close the educational inequity that is found between low-income and affluent areas. The organization has found that 9-year-olds in low-income communities are three grade levels behind their peers in higher-income areas, and half will not graduate high school. Since its creation in 1990, the program has come to serve 35 urban and rural districts across the country, targeting low-income populations.

Providence will now be added to the list as the program expands to the Ocean State, with Brown University graduate Heather Tow-Yick serving as the executive director in her home state.

A major benefit, Kaleel said, is keeping the best and brightest Rhode Islanders right here in the state. This year’s batch of 4,000 new corps members was selected from an applicant pool of 35,000. That number of applications is an increase of more than 10,000 from last year and 14 times more than what was submitted in the inaugural year.

By 2005, Teach for America had reached a halfway point, and collected more than 17,000 applications; one of which came from Nicole Aiello.

Aiello was studying public relations at Syracuse University until a study abroad opportunity turned her life upside down. As an intern assisting an English teacher in an Italian classroom in Florence, she realized that education was something she felt passionately about. Her first year after college she pursued a position in line with her major, but teaching never left her mind.

Too far into her field of study, she thought switching careers would be impossible until she turned to Teach for America.

“In my first job the thing I was lacking was a real meaning to my work,” Aiello said. “Being with the kids gives me a real sense of energy.”

She was placed in a third grade classroom in the South Bronx of New York City in 2005. The adjustment was a major hurdle, but with more than five weeks of training on top of regional instruction on the program as well, Aiello said she was prepared to take on the challenge.

“It was certainly a difficult few months at first but I turned a corner around January,” she said.

When asked what kept her in education after that first year in a low-income area with an at-risk population, Aiello didn’t hesitate.

“I think it’s the day-to-day sense of purpose. Knowing every day is different and you can make a difference in peoples’ lives really keeps you going,” she said.

With popularity skyrocketing, Teach for America has the ability to be very selective of what volunteers they accept, boasting a collection of enthusiastic teachers like Aiello. At a press conference Monday, Kaleel pointed to Drew Madden, a senior at Brown University who is one of the few teachers already chosen for Rhode Island’s first stab at the program.

“Looking at your resume I don’t think I would be accepted to Teach for America this year,” Kaleel said.

Keeping individuals like Madden in the state is a priority, said Neil Steinberg, the president and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, which is the central supporter of the state’s program.

“This is ending the brain drain,” he said, noting that keeping bright, ambitious young people here will yield positive results for the state. “Education will be the economic development driver.”

Congressman Jim Langevin agreed, saying that although there is much work to be done, Teach for America will help improve the first line of defense when building a productive workforce and hence a viable state economy.

“My concern, of course, is losing our edge in many ways in the global competitive economy we find ourselves in,” he said.

Senator Jack Reed agreed, saying that the program will be a “catalyst for positive action” across the state. About two-thirds of the Teach for America alumni stay in education full-time.

During the inaugural year of Teach for America in Rhode Island, there will be 30 teachers placed, 20 of which will stay in Providence. The Democracy Prep mayoral academy in Cumberland will also house some of the teachers.

In order to attract these teachers to Rhode Island, Teach for America needed several commitments. First, the Board of Regents needed to put certification in place for the students, many of whom graduate with degrees outside of education. Second, there needed to be 30 positions guaranteed – which was quickly taken care of between Mayor David Cicilline and Mayor Daniel McKee who started Democracy Prep. The largest hurdle then, Steinberg explained, was bringing together a minimum of $2.7 million over three years.

With the help of philanthropists Letitia and John Carter, Dorothy and Norman McCulloch, and Joan Wernig Sorensen and Paul Sorensen, as well as other donors, that figure has already been surpassed.

Steinberg said he is not surprised, given the commitment of donors to quality education. On the welcome to Rhode Island sign, he wants to be able to boast of a top-notch school system.

“We want a sign there that says ‘home of the best public education’,” he said.

During Monday’s press conference, elected and education officials emphasized the importance of Teach for America in bringing excellence into the classroom.

“There is nothing more important that we can do than improve the quality of our classroom teachers,” said Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist. “We need to raise the bar across the board and Teach for America is going to help us do that.”

Gist has been an advocate for raising teacher standards since she took her post in the beginning of the summer.

“You can feel the excitement and enthusiasm when you’re around them,” Governor Donald Carcieri added about the Teach for America educators.

Nicole Aiello was in Providence Monday to support the program that steered her life in a new direction. She now teaches math in North Providence, and said that Gist’s position that good teachers can engage any student – regardless of socioeconomic factors or past performance – is on point with what she experienced in New York.

“I think it’s not a popular opinion on behalf of teachers but I think with the right person in front of a group of kids huge strides can be made toward success,” she said. “The decisions we make in the classroom completely influence how the kids hold themselves to their own expectations.”

Aiello expects that some teachers will not be entirely welcoming to Teach for America, but said the state’s efforts to attract the program are an important piece of improving public education in Rhode Island.

“I think it shakes up the system a little bit and I think it will remind teachers who are currently in the classroom that we have to bring energy and enthusiasm and optimism into what we do,” she said.

Although 30 teachers will be placed next year, there is the chance for expansion as Teach for America sets roots in Rhode Island. Gist said that this program, paired with other teacher-based initiatives such as stricter performance assessments and increased diversity, is the start of a reformed education system in the state.

“This is our moment,” she said.